A Little Snow Business

One week of 2018 has come and gone, and I've gotta say, it was...kind of a weird one around here. I mean, it started out exactly as expected, with everyone chilling on New Year's Day...in both the literal AND metaphorical sense of the word. You see, the Arctic Blast that we'd experienced during our time in Maryland--and that we desperately hoped had moved along...to Canada, perhaps (no offense to our friendly Northern Neighbors...it's just that you guys are used to dealing with this sort of nonsense, right?)--was, in fact, just getting started, and blanketing the entire region in frigid, arid, windy conditions. Um....yaaaayyy? (NOT!) Of course, this didn't bother the Male Posse, who simply used it as an excuse to sink deeper into the sofas and watch televised sporting events.

Okay, I guess I can get behind that...but then things took another strange turn, when we received an email from the school system announcing that the return to classes the following morning would be delayed by 2 hours. While the students in our household couldn't have been more thrilled (or amused), my own reaction ran more along the lines of...indignation. "Why is this happening? You can't go to school on time....because it's CHILLY? This is not...Buffalo...people!" 

Now, I've been chastised by locals about this--they point out that the real issue is that the administrators are concerned about the buses not being able to start up, after a long, cold hiatus. Well, guess what? It's a heck of a lot frostier in many other parts of the country, yet somehow THEY manage to throw on some extra layers of clothing, crank the vehicles to life, and keep things rolling along on schedule. I'm just sayin'... (On the other hand, if people needed a couple more snooze cycles on the first day back, that's a different story...and entirely understandable!)

Right...where was I? Oh yeah: January 3rd...a completely ordinary day! Whoo hoo! Except...while I was at work, our building's management company sent a message that they were closing at 3:30...to allow their employees to get home safely..in light of the forecast. I'm sorry, the WHAT, now? So I checked, and the 4-letter "Winter s-word" was indeed mentioned, which is enough to cause the immediate commencement of emergency preparedness-type activities...commonly known as the "Bread/Milk/Toilet Paper Phenomenon". (If you've ever lived in the Mid-Atlantic, you know what I'm talking about, yeah?)

While I did make plans to hit the grocery store for a couple of things we were running low on (not the aforementioned items, but fresh fruit and salad ingredients), we otherwise adopted our usual "wait and see" attitude with regards to potential weather drama. Riley and I (separately) even went for a run; although it was only around 30 degrees, this was projected to be the warmest temperature for the entire week. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision, since later that evening, when I ventured out to the supermarket, the first tiny flakes had begun to flutter from the sky. And when I carried my bags out to the Subaru after no more than 20 minutes inside...the parking lot already boasted a thin white covering on the asphalt, as well as all of the cars.

For several hours it precipitated fairly fast and furiously, resulting in maybe 1/2 inch of accumulation--before abruptly ceasing. Aaaannnnd schools were promptly closed for the following day. (Siiiighhhh...) When Riley came in to say goodnight, I told him to enjoy his free Thursday. He thanked me automatically before his face registered confusion and he said, "Wait...you get to stay home too, right?" Um, that would be a "no", buddy--as long as the roads are decent, I'll be heading out. Because this happened to be actual snow, for once, rather than the ice we usually have to try to manage, both our steep driveway and the streets were navigable, as long as one chose a prudent speed, and exercised all due caution (made even easier by the fact that I was the ONLY person even attempting to drive to the office...everyone else having opted to remain home and connect remotely...so it didn't matter what time I arrived!).

The kids made the most of their unexpected leisure time by playing outside--apparently, neither football nor soccer were hampered by the light dusting of frozen stuff on the ground. Then the notification came in that school was canceled again on Friday. Ay yi yi. When informed of the news, Riley shook his head ruefully and commented, "I was hoping that wouldn't happen. I reeeeallly need to get back into a routine." (Yep, "my child" all the way...) However, Derek had a different take, "I'm looking forward to using the time to get ahead on my assignments--not just catch up and be current, but actually go past where I need to be." (That's so awesome, I might cry! But hold on just a minute...who are you, and what have you done with my son? You know what, never mind...you can stay!)

Besides that, after a couple of bonus days off, the teenagers were kind of over it...mostly because of the continued sub-zero temperatures and uncharacteristic gales that made being outside for extended periods of time unpleasant, to say the least. Not to mention the fact that, in order to make up the lost instruction time, they'll be at their desks, plugging away on President's Day (sorry, George and Abe), which is surely going to make February a b...ear of a month.

Well, it's still only early January, so there's may be plenty more opportunities for...meteorological disruption...before Spring is blessedly upon us. For now, though, it seems we may be coming out of our deep freeze, with the thermometer predicted to climb into the 40s...or even 50s....every day for the next week. MUCH better than the 4 I saw this morning when I got up! So whattya say we top off our anti-freeze, crank the heat in those buses, bundle up, and get 2018 back on track, y'all!